SwissFreek's Tricopter LR

[swissfreek]

David asked, so here’s my build as of right now. I made a couple changes to suit my preferences.

1) I replaced all the PVC wires with 30AWG silicone wire (yes, that includes the servo).

2) I designed little holders to go around the little standoffs between the bottom plates and hold the CrossFire ImmortalT. I suppose I could have just completely replaced the standoffs with the printed parts, but since I used TPU for the holders, I wanted to leave the rigid standoffs in place.

3) I printed camera holders in the strap style that connect to the standoffs. The metal mounts kind of suck, are heavy, take up a lot of space, and don’t even work that well. The specific ones I used were made for the XHover Win5 on Thingiverse, I guess the spacing is close enough, they fit perfectly for me. The camera I use is a RunCam Eagle Micro because the Eagle series cameras are (in my opinion) the best out there and totally worth the money.

4) I made a plate to mount the stack to the middle plate. I didn’t care for having the stack on the top plate as it is tricky to solder up since you can’t have it mounted in place and solder at the same time, plus then you can’t really remove one plate because everything is connected with wires. Mounting the FC stack on the middle plate allows you to remove the top plate and work from above if needed. It also cleans up the wiring. So currently what I did was bolt the top and middle plates together (like touching, not with standoffs), and then used the 30×30 pattern on the top plate to drill holes in the same place on the middle plate using a 3mm brad point bit (brad point bit keeps it from wandering, $15, damn Festool is expensive). Then I used the posts from the plastic standoffs to position the plate, and it’s attached with double-sided tape since the tail boom prevents you from bolting it in from between the plates (my original intent). I think I am going to modify the plate so that it slides a few mm toward the tail, that way the battery strap can align properly with the notches in the side of the middle plate (currently the rear standoffs interfere).

As a result of all these changes, I have room for a 400mW 1.3GHz video transmitter under the top plate, and room for the coax extension so I can use the hole in the back of the top plate for the antenna mount. This leaves room on top of the top plate for the GPS and GoPro. I believe I have room to use standoffs that are 35mm, maybe even 30mm. I like the low-profile look.

I don’t really like the size of the 1.3GHz antenna, and it is messing with the GPS badly. I also don’t think it’s likely that I will fly this so far away that I really need 1.3GHz. The VAS antennae that I have on my 5.8GHz module have taken me over 4km away already, and I’m getting a different antenna that should be good for 6km at altitude. This will allow me to use a tiny antenna on the Tricopter, and should solve my GPS issues. I may also try to build a bandpass filter, but with how big and clunky everything already is with 1.3GHz, I may not bother.

How does it fly? On iNav, it needs a lot of tuning. I tried working with the Yaw P and Yaw D, and I managed to get a lot of “the eel” out, but it was still there, and I didn’t have a ton of confidence. I’m not very good at tuning, so I think it could probably be fixed, but I don’t currently have the skills. Lucky for me I set it up in a way that I can easily switch back and forth between iNav and dRonin, so I will experiment more. Right now I’m on a business trip, so my capabilities are limited.

On dRonin it flies quite well. Like I said, I had GPS issues, and I can’t figure out why my 5883L magnetometer won’t work. It’s supposed to, but doesn’t, so I will probably switch to a GPS with a 5983 magnetometer. Without the compass, I can’t test any of the automated modes, which is a bummer. I also need to modify the OSD to suit my tastes, but at the moment, the only way to see the OSD is to arm, so that’s going to have to wait until a future update.

I have a lot of jello in the GoPro, but I haven’t had a chance to mess with settings (going from 30fps to 60fps, changing shutter speed, adding an ND filter, etc.) so I’m sure that’s something I can fix, most likely without even having to change from the little silicone pad mount.

I did crash. I got a little agressive on a side street, went through a tree, hit a sign, and crashed onto a sidewalk. It shattered all three props, and busted the servo gears, so right now I’m waiting on spare parts before I can fly it some more (and that’s why the pictures don’t have props). Hopefully things come out of backorder soon (I also ordered new middle and bottom plates, not broken, but I didn’t like the holes I drilled in mine), and I can get back in the air. This has also gotten me excited to get the Baby Tricopter and V4 flying again, it has been a while for both. But so far the LR is my favorite. So easy to travel with, and flies nice.

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[Kevin_Erik]

Wow thats a big battery!

[swissfreek]

It’s a 3S 5200 10C Multistar. Same one David has in his pictures except mine was purchased as a 4S, smashed, and converted. I’m actually surprised how thin it is as a 3S.

[Author]

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